


Secretive Asshole

by mielipieli



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: Bruce is a secretive asshole, Gen, Wally burns too many calories, Wally is an old soul in a young world, dick has issues, hes also just trying to protect his small babie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 07:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10692591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: And here Wally thought he was just going to have a small and quiet midnight snack. Instead, there's deep issues.





	Secretive Asshole

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently not really writing a lot. I get stuck after like half the story. Finally got this one done, though. Everything is an estimation. I will not be held accountable for any numbers I have written down in this story. I am trying to work with the New52 timeline here and that is screwed up.

Wally had probably never had a good night’s sleep since the moment he became a speedster. Every single night he would wake up feeling like he was going to starve if he didn’t get food right now. Therefore, it had become a habit for him to walk into the kitchen at night still half-asleep. Even with the Tower only having existed for about a month, Wally knew every step by heart. The others would definitely make fun of him if he ever said that out loud. 

A chuckle escaped Wally’s lips and with his thought drifting off, he walked straight into a wall. To be fair he hadn’t turned on any light. He decided to pay more attention to where he was going and gently rubbed his forehead. 

„Damn“, Wally murmured. 

The kitchen was dark and cold. When he opened the fridge the little light it emitted, made it seem emptier than ever. 

Wally sighed: „What do we have here? Oranges, apples, kiwis, cucumber, spinach… Definitely not enough calories. Wait, are those leftovers from the takeout we had two days ago? How has this not been eaten, yet? I’m pretty sure there’s not a single hour of the day where not at least one person here eats something. Well, good for me.“

He put the Chinese food on a plate and put it into the microwave. The countdown felt like it took forever. Finally, the beeping noise that was way too loud started. With a fork in one hand and the plate in the other, Wally went into the living room to lounge on one of the chairs. 

He stopped in the doorway. The light of New York City gave the room a bluefish shimmer and lit it up enough to see most of what was inside. On one end of the couch he spotted black hair that he would recognize anywhere. Why the hell was Dick not in bed? Wally quietly walked around the couch. Dick’s eyes were wide open and staring at the ceiling. He was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. The headphones were probably what had kept him from noticing Wally. 

Wally put down his plate on the couch table and went over to the couch. Dick’s eyes moved to Wally’s face. From this closer position Wally could see that his eyes were red. Dick removed his headphones.

„Bad night?“, Wally asked carefully.

Dick bit his lip and nodded: „More like bad week.“ He sat up. „I’m fighting with Bruce.“

Wally sat down on a chair and took his plate. „Aren’t you two always fighting?“ He took a spoonful of whatever this Chinese food was. 

„Yeah but this is different.“ Dick leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.

Wally swallowed: „How so?“ Dick was quiet for a while and Wally continued eating.

When Dick did speak his voice was almost inaudible: „I miss Tim.“ He sighed and rubbed his face. „Jason is acting all bitchy. At first he infiltrates Black Mask’s organization, then he comes back to Gotham. Now he’s working with a new team but most of the time no one manages to contact him. Last week I wanted to ask him for information on a gang I know he dealt with a few years ago and I couldn’t reach him. Then, yesterday he walks into my apartment, takes all of my ice cream and walks back out. I only have that on camera. I wasn’t even there.

„Then there’s Damian who is pissed at me for going to Blüdhaven. He’s taking on too many responsibilities and Bruce isn’t stopping him. But otherwise Bruce is trying to get along with him and be more fatherly. So, I don’t want to bitch to him about Bruce because then Damian would feel the need to choose sides and I don’t want that.

„The girls are always slightly on the outside because none of them live or have lived at the manor. They are all pissed at Bruce. Especially Steph but she doesn’t want to talk to any of us. Babs also has way too much going on right now with the Birds of Prey and she’s studying to become a librarian and she’s trying to help social issues in Burnside.

„I also can’t bitch to Duke because he’s still too new to just be done with B’s bullshit. I don’t want to ruin their relationship because I put my issues on Duke. B is really trying to help him.“ Dick sighed again and Wally put down his empty plate.

„How about you just bitch to me? How long ago did you become Robin?“

„6 years maybe?“

Wally laughed: „That’s like… nothing.“ Dick looked slightly insulted. „You know how in my world everyone was older? Well, there you became Robin at 9 and the flashpoint thing happened when you were… 27 I think. So you worked with B for 18 years. I was in the Justice League with him for about 10 years and we started the Teen Titans when you were 12. Which means I have had you bitch about Bruce to me for 15 years and was bitching to you about Bruce for about 10. So go on and bitch.“

A smile had slowly crept onto Dick’s face and Wally felt his heart warm at the fact that Dick wasn’t feeling completely down anymore. „Bruce is shutting us out. He treats us like resources without feelings one day and like children incapable of doing anything the next. Jay, Dami and I spent the last two days cryogenically frozen in the Fortress of Solitude because we got slightly hurt going after Bane AFTER Bruce had shut us out.“

Wally frowned: „Define slightly hurt.“

„A few cracked ribs.“ Wally was sure there was something more.

„And?“

„We were maybe hanging in the cave and unconscious when B found us.“

Wally took a sharp breath. „Are you sure Bruce’s reaction wasn’t justified?“

„You know that if any of you ever tried to pull that shit I would seriously hurt you. On a completely unrelated note, did you know there’s an email list for heroes without superpowers.“

Wally laughed: „You know I wouldn’t do that. Kory kind of did. Once. You were incredibly pissed. It was amazing to watch.“ He didn’t feel the need to tell Dick that he hadn’t actually been a member of the Titans at that time. He had heard the story retold enough times that he knew every little detail of what had happened. 

„Every time you tell some story from the other world it kind of feels like I should remember it. Like it’s something that definitely happened to me. And sometimes it’s like that feeling when you can’t remember a word. I’ll be in some situation and my brain will be like ‚something just like this happened to you before‘.“

„I’m pretty sure on the Pre-Flashpoint world we, or at the very least you Bats, experienced everything at least once. And some things were experienced at least once a month. Like you and Bruce fighting. Don’t distract. Talk.“ Wally grinned when Dick’s face turned sour.

„There’s something he’s not telling me. One of the main reasons I’m so pissed about that is that I thought we’d grown past that. Every time there’s a major change in our lives I think that it will change. He’ll trust me with his plans or at least keep me informed of the problems we’re dealing with. When I went back to being Nightwing the first time, when I came back from my spy days, when I came back from the Court of Owls. And that’s just the time after I was Batman. Damn it, Wally! He was dead for a while and I had to take care of if not all of the shit he deals with, still most of it.“ Dick took a deep breath. „Every time it feels like he just doesn’t trust me. Like he thinks he can’t trust me to do what he says if I know what he’s trying to do. And if he thinks that then why the hell would he be doing whatever he’s doing!“ Dick let his head sink down on knees. 

Wally put his empty plate on the table. „You know he’s just trying to protect you, right?“

Dick sighed: „That makes it even worse. It’s not his job anymore. I’m a grown-ass man. I’ve been a superhero longer than most of the people he works with in the various Justice Leagues and other teams. Hell, I’ve been a superhero just as long as he has if you count the not-technically-dead year.“

„I know. I also know that what I’m going to say now isn’t going to help. You can’t change who Bruce is. You can only change how you react to it. What if you ask him to just give some information? Ask him to tell you what the problem is that he is trying to tackle. He’s not going to suddenly open up and tell you everything just because you yelled at him for cutting you out.“

„You’re right. And that really annoys me. I just want to shake Bruce until all the information falls right out of him.“

„Ice cream?“

Dick raised his head: „Ice cream.“


End file.
